Gilbert Ranks No. 1 for Office Construction in U.S.
May 17th, 2022
AZ Big Media
Article originally published in AZ Big Media
The last 10 years were challenging. Beginning from the depths of the financial crisis and culminating with the beginning of one of the worst global health crisis in the last 100 years, the 2010s changed everyday life quite a bit — especially how and where we work. But data shows that cities are still growing. They’re the place to be for work, play, and growing up, and the office real estate sector has thrived alongside throughout the decade. Aiming to see if and where the two trends overlapped, we looked at a decade of office construction data in what the latest census reveals have been the fastest-growing U.S. cities between 2010 and 2020, and Gilbert ranks No. 1 for office development in U.S. over that time period.
The population in Gilbert grew by 59,465 (28.5%) from 2010 to 2020, ranking the 3rd in our top 20, while the office construction rose by 1,564,830 (48.64%) square feet of new office space, over the same period, snatching the first place of the fastest-growing U.S. cities. The largest office project completed in this timeframe was The Commons at Rivulon, incorporating nearly 312,000 square feet of class A suburban Phoenix office space.
Between 2010 and 2020, the population of Gilbert grew 29%, ranking the city third among the fastest-growing in the U.S. But Gilbert took top spot in terms of office market expansion among the cities on our list, as the total office square footage delivered here during the decade marked a 49% increase from January 2010 totals. At the close of 2020, existing inventory encompassed nearly 4.8 million square feet of office space, compared to the 3.2 million total at the start of 2010.
In fact, this most recent growth spurt is only the latest in the city’s strategic transformation from small East Valley town to corporate headquarters destination. Vision-driven local administration investment into infrastructure, public safety, and quality-of-life amenities paved the way for the Rivulon business district — an exceptional 250-acre mixed-use development that has become home to international corporate tenants including: Isagenix International, the largest employer in the area; Deliotte, which occupies half of The Commons at Rivulon office development; Morgan Stanley, which recently expanded on its previously leased office space in Gilbert, in December of last year; Merrill Lynch; and Amerifirst Financial.